Bradman 'baggy green' cap sells for $250,000 at auction

SYDNEY, Dec 03 (AFP): A "baggy green" Test cap worn by Australian great Don Bradman sold for $250,000 at auction on Tuesday as collectors vied to own a rare piece of cricketing history.

The tattered garment -- almost 80 years old -- was sun-faded, showed signs of "insect damage" and had a torn peak.

Auction house Bonhams said Bradman wore the cap during India's 1947-48 tour of Australia, his last Test series on home soil. In an auction lasting 10 minutes, a flurry of bidding pushed the price from a starting point of $160,000 to a winning offer of $250,000 (Aus$390,000).

The total cost was $310,000 once "buyer's premium" fees were tacked on.

Bonhams said it was "the only known baggy green" worn by Bradman during the series, in which he scored 715 runs in six innings at an average of 178.75, with three centuries and a double-hundred.

Australia's cricketers are awarded the dark green woollen caps before Test debuts.